Dowty - Israel/Palestine

1. The War of Independence/An-Nakba:
   The Second Stage of the Conflict

Hot Spots series

Samer Abboud, Syria

Christoph Bluth, Korea

Kidane Mengisteab, The Horn of Africa

Amalendu Misra, Afghanistan

Gareth Stansfield, Iraq, second edition

Jonathan Tonge, Northern Ireland

Thomas Turner, Congo

Alan Dowty

Fourth Edition

polity

Copyright Alan Dowty 2017

The right of Alan Dowty to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First edition published in 2005 by Polity Press
This fourth edition first published in 2017 by Polity Press

Polity Press
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All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-2081-7

ALibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Dowty, Alan, 1940- author.

Title: Israel/Palestine / Alan Dowty.

Other titles: Hot spots in global politics.

Description: 4th edition. | Cambridge, UK : Polity Press, 2017. | Series: Hot spots in global politics | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017001650 (print) | LCCN 2017007937 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509520770 (hardback) | ISBN 9781509520787 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781509520800 (Mobi) | ISBN 9781509520817 (Epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Arab-Israeli conflict--History. | Jewish-Arab relations--History. | Palestinian Arabs. | Israel--Politics and government. | Palestine--Politics and government. | West Bank--Politics and government. | Gaza Strip--Politics and government. | Jerusalem--Politics and government. | Zionism--History.

Classification: LCC DS119.76 .D69 2017 (print) | LCC DS119.76 (ebook) | DDC 956.04--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017001650

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Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.

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Strength and honor are her clothing, and she shall rejoice in time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness.

Proverbs 31: 25-6

Can an introduction to the highly charged ArabIsrael conflict be objective and yet communicate the depth of emotions and humanity on both sides? Perhaps the goal is hopelessly naive, as modern theories of knowledge have repeatedly claimed; indeed, the very concept of objectivity has in recent decades been subjected to relentless attack. Yet it is precisely in the discussion of hotly contested issues, where it is hardest to achieve, that the subject refuses to go away. Perhaps it is an unachievable goal, but in my view that does not relieve us as scholars from the responsibility of trying to approach it as much as we possibly can.

The approach I have followed in this introduction to the clash between Israelis and Palestinians is to present the opposed perspectives in their full intensity, leaving readers to think through the claims and counterclaims for themselves. The analysis follows a conceptual framework that emphasizes the various approaches to resolution of the conflict.

The book assumes no previous knowledge on the part of the reader. It covers the basic features of the confrontation with a strong historical emphasis, since the very vocabulary of the conflict requires historical knowledge. (The text is followed by a chronology, as well as suggestions for further reading and Internet links.) But within this framework, it focuses on larger developments such as changing public attitudes on both sides, rather than the details of forgotten diplomatic episodes.

The original purpose in offering this account, as stated at the outset, was to chart the origins and evolution of the conflict, to explore the different motivations and claims of those groups involved, and to discuss the prospects for resolution.

I am grateful to Louise Knight and her fellow editors at Polity for their confidence and support at all stages, and to Susan Beer for her superb copy-editing. Since this book draws on the accumulated wisdom, such as it is, of over forty years of academic and personal involvement in the conflict, it would be pointlessly tedious to try to mention everyone who has had some influence, direct or indirect, on the content of these pages. I will simply mention those who read all or part of the manuscript and made useful suggestions, which I probably should have used more extensively: Sandra Winicur (as usual, my closest reader), Phil Mikesell, David Freeman.

Gail, my lifes partner, who was an extraordinary source of support through the first three editions of this book, is no longer with me for the fourth. But her presence is on every page.

However, if the time comes when the life of our people in Eretz Israel develops to the point of encroaching upon the native population, they will not easily yield their place...

Zionist leader Ahad Haam (Ginzberg 1891: 162)

The conflict over Israel/Palestine may be the quintessential hot spot on todays globe. Even the label attached to it is contentious. If we call it a conflict over Israel, Palestinian or Arab observers would consider that a Zionist or pro-Israel framework. By the same token, calling it a conflict over Palestine favors the definition and terminology of anti-Zionist critics of Israel. I will, therefore, use both labels, depending on whose viewpoint is on stage, and also employ the somewhat awkward compromise of Israel/Palestine.

There is another problem with the label. Although the clash between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs is the core of the conflict, the involvement of neighboring Arab states after the emergence of Israel in 1948 expanded the confrontation into an ArabIsraeli conflict. Before then, Jews (they were not yet Israelis) contended with Arabs within Britishruled Palestine, a Mandate of the League of Nations, and Arab states played secondary roles. The label ArabIsraeli conflict is still more common, even though Palestinians have reclaimed their previous position as Israels major antagonists, and Arab states have to some extent disengaged (Egypt and Jordan have signed peace treaties with Israel). Given this re-emergence of the core conflict and the Palestinians as core actors, we will focus on Israel/Palestine, while not overlooking the historical importance and current role of Arab nations.

By any label, the ArabIsraeli conflict (or Israels fight for existence, or the Palestine question) is often described as the bloodiest, or one of the bloodiest, battlegrounds in todays world. Pundits speak about age-old ethnic hatreds between Arabs and Jews going back thousands of years, about the clash of religions between Islam and Judaism that lies at the center of these hatreds, and about the unceasing cycle of violence that fuels the hatreds and intensifies the conflict, making it an unending and insoluble dilemma. There is a major problem with these characterizations. They are all myths.